


No Man Left Behind

by ManderKitteh



Series: The Crook and The Canary [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Action, Captain Canary, F/M, Fluff, Rescue, The Crook and The Canary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 04:32:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7028743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManderKitteh/pseuds/ManderKitteh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place directly after LoT 1x15 - DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED SEASON 1 EPISODE 15! Sara and the team convince Rip to go back to the moment before the explosion to save their teammate. Hopefully the first in a series of oneshots, maybe a multichapter fic if the hiatus wrecks me. Captain Canary fluff and a bit of team banter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Man Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> So since I was absolutely distraught after the team lost Len, I decided that I would rewrite the ending because I am living in denial. I hope you enjoy it.

“I can pilot this ship with or without you, Rip,” Sara glared at the captain. “So are you in, or are you out?”

The team stood in silence awaiting his response. To Sara’s left stood Martin and Jax. The older man placed a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. Jax anxiously shifted his weight from foot to foot.

To Sara’s right, Mick sat and stared blankly at the wall, his face still as stone, hard lines etched into his aggressive features. Ray was beside him, much to his chagrin, with a dopey smile on his face. He was always annoyingly optimistic.

Rip, however, did not respond. Sara could tell he was weighing his options. She took a step toward him, and his eyes darted around the room. He was outnumbered. Sara knew she could take him down even without the team’s help, but it was comforting to know that they had her back.

Rip sighed. “Now that the Oculus is destroyed, there’s no telling the repercussions of these actions. You all understand that. But,” he paused, taking another breath, “if I’ve learned anything from Carter’s death and return, it is that we cannot afford to leave any man behind.”

Ray’s grin spread across the room to Jax and Martin. Sara’s shoulders relaxed in relief.

“I’m in.”

* * *

Sara stepped up to the table, which was surrounded by Martin, Jax, and Ray. The tabletop was littered with notebooks and papers and different tools, both common in Sara’s time and futuristic, and in the center sat a small mechanism no larger than her fist. The device had wires poking out of every crack in its facade and emitted a low humming noise.

“How’s it coming, guys?” She inquired.

“Almost there, Miss Lance,” Martin responded. “Just a few more alterations and it should be strong enough to engage the failsafe for a short time.” He fiddled with a tiny cluster of wires, twisting and pinching them with his tweezers. Jax was beside him, heating the ends of two wires.

“How long is ‘a short time’?”

Ray looked up this time, meeting Sara’s eyes with an enormous amount of excitement. He really did love being a hero.

“Approximately 147 seconds. I can try to make it last longer but that could affect the structural integrity of the device. You see, the electromagnets used to-”

“That’s enough time. Just make sure it holds,” she commanded. Jax continued his soldering as Martin and Ray finished their calculations.

Sara crossed the room to Rip. He was sitting in the pilot’s seat, Mick slouched at his feet, poring over hundreds of charts and graphs. After sketching on the charts, he would pass them to Mick to double check his calculations.

He didn’t look up from his work when he spoke, “I see you’ve elected yourself the leader of this mission, Sara.”

She crossed her arms, ready to retort, but before she could respond, he continued, “It suits you.”

She smiled at that. Truth be told she was extremely anxious. After speaking with whom she refers to as ‘The Geek Squad’, she knew that she had only 147 seconds after initializing the device to break Snart back out of the Oculus chamber. That wasn’t much time. If Snart were here, he’d be standing beside her reminding Sara that she had done way more with much less.

But he wasn’t beside her. He was gone. Sara felt her eyes begin to water again at the thought of their fallen comrade, one of her closest friends on the ship. Her arms uncrossed as one hand slowly made its way to her face. Her fingertips ghosted over her lips.

She snapped out of her trance when Jax excitedly declared that the device was complete. She blinked back the threatening tears, inhaled slowly, and turned so the entire crew could hear.

“Then let’s do this.”

* * *

Rip, Mick, and Ray had all argued to be the one to go in. Sara had fought back just as forcefully. Rip declared that it was his fault for telling the team about the Oculus in the first place - that destroying it did not save his family, nor the many other people they had thought it could save - so it should be him. Mick reminded the crew that Snart was his partner, and partners don’t leave partners to blow up in outer space. Ray explained that it should be him, for Snart had replaced both he and Mick to hold the failsafe, and he felt personally responsible for not being able to disable it properly.

None on the team could argue with Sara, once she said that she was going in, and that was that.

“You want a reason?” She had said, “Here’s your reason. I’ve trained with the League on multiple occasions. I survived on Lian Yu. I can fight my way out of anything. And more importantly, I can convince Snart to leave.” She turned to Rip. “I need to do this.”

The team had all nodded in agreement, and Jax and Stein decided it would be best for them to wait outside the Waverider as backup. The last thing Sara needed was to fight off even more guards than the last time around.

After Sara prepared for the extraction, Rip piloted the Waverider back to the Vanishing Point, this time, landing on the opposing side of the chamber. He camouflaged the ship, but the team knew it was only a matter of time before the guards were alerted of their presence.

Rip’s seat spun toward the center of the room, releasing the lock on the overhead supports. He lifted them and stood. Sara did the same.

“I’ve landed us just over four minutes before the explosion. So long as you get the device on the failsafe before Mr. Snart decides to blow up the entire station, the plan should work.”

Sara nodded. “Four minutes. Then 147 seconds. Got it.”

She turned to exit the ship.

“And I don’t need to remind you to try not to come into contact with your previous self,” he cautioned.

She wouldn’t. She would let Rip believe that it was for the sake of the timeline - what was left of it, anyway - but something in the back of Sara’s mind told her it had something to do with not wanting to interrupt a certain shared experience between her former self and Leonard Snart.

She stepped off the timeship. Behind her, she could hear the merging of Jax and Stein. Their combined self emitted a comforting warmth against Sara’s back. Her shoulders were bare, this time, electing to leave her coat on board.

She peeked over her shoulder, and Firestorm gave her an encouraging nod.

So she ran, and the warmth was gone, replaced by the cool whipping of wind against her shoulder blades. She danced through guards, slashing and kicking and using their bodies to catapult herself forward. Firestorm flared on, yards above her, taking out any enemy that dared stand in her way with fiery blasts from his hands.

She entered the building at a full sprint, navigating the corridors as best as she could. She didn’t have much time to memorize the layout that Gideon provided, and hoped the chamber was just up ahead.

She turned a sharp left, only to be greeted by a dead end. The wall before her was filled floor to ceiling with buttons and switches and monitors. Her wristwatch beeped; three minutes.

She about faced as a soldier approached her from behind, blaster raised. He commanded her to freeze, but before he could even finish the word she spun towards him, bo staff twirling in her hands, smacking his wrists, neck, and knees. He fired his blaster as he was hit, and sparks flew as the beam hit the panels behind her.

The blaster clattered to the floor as the soldier’s knees gave out. He fell to the ground before the assassin, and with one more crack of her bo staff, she knocked the man unconscious.

She retrieved the blaster and tucked it into the back of her suit, and trudged on.

The watch beeped again as she entered the chamber warning Sara that she had two minutes before Snart released the lever. She had to get to him before then. The floor before her seemed to stretch out for miles. In the center of the room she could see a thin blonde in a white suit stride up to a man in all black. Sara watched as her past self gripped Snart’s arm and pressed her lips to his.

She ran her fingertips over her mouth once more. She wanted to run to them - to tell them that everything would be okay in just a matter of hours - but she knew she couldn’t. She waited in the shadows until the younger White Canary dragged an unconscious Heat Wave out of the Oculus Chamber.

Several seconds later, a band of guards and Time Master Druce stormed the room. They trained their guns at Snart, and he stared coldly back at them. 

“No! Shut it down!” the Time Master yelled as he approached Snart.

That was her cue. She sprinted toward the Oculus, bo staff in her left hand and the blaster in her right. She fired at the guards between strategic tucks and rolls. Avoiding every shot they took at her, Sara found herself surrounded by the four guards that remained, bodies of the fallen laying crumpled on the ground. As she spun, her staff whirled and made harsh contact with several of the soldiers. They stumbled backwards and Sara could hear a confused Snart yelling behind her.

“I thought I told you to get out of here!”

“I did!” She yelled back, disarming a guard in front of her. “But I’m not leaving you, not this time!”

She hooked her arm through one of her assailant’s and dropped to the floor, using the momentum to flip him over her back. He crashed against one of his comrades and together they landed against the ground with a loud thud. Druce crept up behind her, aiming a gun at the back of her head. She spun around just in time to watch as his body froze solid in front of her.

As he fell, she could see Leonard behind him, hand still holding the lever, foot pressed on top of the cold gun that rested on the floor where Mick had been laying.

She smiled up at him in thanks as her watch beeped for the last time.

One minute.

She sprinted up to the Oculus and stood beside Snart. Pulling the device from her pocket, she warned him, “We don’t have much time. Quick, move your hand so I can get this on!”

“If this is some kind of trick so that you could take my place-”

“Just shut up and listen to me! The guys rigged this up to give us 147 seconds to get the hell out of here before that thing blows.” The guards on the floor that were lucky to survive groaned as they stumbled back to their feet.

Sara glanced at them, then looked back at Leonard, searching his eyes for some form of acknowledgement. She was right, earlier that day, when she had said he wasn’t the same cold-hearted bastard she first met. If he were, they wouldn’t be standing together, his hand the only thing between them and a cosmic explosion. Sara could feel pricking in her eyes as they filled with tears.

“Please, Leonard,” she whispered. “I can’t lose you again.” She pressed her forehead up against his and closed her eyes. His breaths were warm against her skin and his nose brushed against hers before pulling away.

Eyes fluttering open, she watched as he nodded, removing his hand from the lever in a quick, fluid motion.

She instantly clipped the device to the lever, locking it into place. The machine beeped to life, and a timer appeared on the small LED screen that was so crudely fastened to it.

147

146

Sara reached to the floor, grabbed Leonard’s cold gun, and tossed it to him, then sprinted toward the exit. He holstered the gun and fell into step behind her.

* * *

“I don’t understand why we had to wait on the ship while Sara, Stein, and Jax are out there risking their lives for Snart! We should be there fighting with them!” Ray exclaimed.

“It’s too dangerous,” Rip responded, calmly. “We can’t have all of us in the same place as our former selves. And if all goes according to plan, Time Master Druce and his goons won’t even know Sara is in there, so there will be no need for her to have to defend herself much longer.” He leaned against the table and scratched his head.  _ If all goes according to plan. Which it won’t. _

“There has to be something we could do,” Ray said.

“Nothing but watch the clock,” Mick added. He was seated in a rustic looking armchair in Rip’s study, staring at an old grandfather clock, eyes following the pendulum as it swung back and forth. With each passing  _ tick  _ of the clock, the tension in the room grew thicker. The Canary and Firestorm left the ship almost three minutes ago. If Sara didn’t get to Snart in time, the crook wouldn’t be the only one to disintegrate this time.

This would be the longest minute of their lives.

With 30 seconds left, Ray approached a monitor and asked Gideon to display some photographs. Images of he and Kendra flooded the screen. He swiped through them with a sad smile. Most of the photos were from their extra years together - a time when things were much simpler and they were just a young couple in love. For those few years, there was no Oculus, no Chronos, no timeline ready to implode. There was just  _ them _ . Ray had known once he fell for her that his final thoughts would be of Kendra. Guilt flooded through him as he realized that failing in saving Snart would also result in never seeing her again.

With 20 seconds left, Rip anxiously paced the length of the study, thinking of the family he had lost. The clacking of his shoes on the marble floor echoed throughout the timeship. He thought of Jonas, hoping that in his son’s final moments he stood tall and unafraid. The captain grew angry - the few years he had had with his boy were not enough. But at least he had time with his darling Miranda. From the moment they began training together he had known that she was the only woman who could ever hold his heart.  _ Maybe I will see you again, my love. _

With 10 seconds left, Mick remained still, his breathing steady. The patterned ticking of the second hand was oddly soothing, as while the fighting outside the Waverider was unpredictable, the motion of the clock was not. The pendulum swung to the left and he thought of their first heist. They had planned and planned and planned and still failed. It swung to the right and he thought of the boy he met and protected in juvy. It swung to the left and he thought of a ridiculous jailbreak in Russia, where yet again Snart’s brain had saved him, not unlike many other missions before. It swung back to the right, and he thought of the riots in Star City 2046. If he had stayed like he had wanted, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe. But he hadn’t stayed and this did happen, and there’s nobody he’d rather be with as he watched his world fall apart.  _ Just don’t let prettyboy know that. _

The crew held their breath as the final five seconds passed.

_ Tick _

_ Tock _

_ Tick _

_ Tock _

_ Tick _

Gideon’s voice filled the room. “Captain Hunter, it seems Miss Lance was successful in activating the Oculus Disrupter. She and Mr. Snart are approaching the ship.”

The team exhaled in unison. Rip began initiating the launch sequence and told the remaining crew to ensure the safe boarding of the rest of the team. Ray shrugged his jacket on and began assembling his suit. Mick got to his feet and unholstered his heat gun.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

The air in front of them glimmered as they fought their way out of the building. Snart blasted the soldiers in front of him as he made his way towards the time ship that was slowly appearing before them. Sara followed, knocking her staff against each of her opponents as Firestorm plunged downward in a blaze to take out several soldiers.

Back to back, Leonard and Sara found themselves surrounded.

“Well, this wasn’t part of the plan,” Sara said.

They rotated a bit, calculating their next move. “Haven’t you learned? Nothing ever goes as planned.”

Sara lunged forward as Snart fired his cold gun at as many guards as he could. She disconnected the two ends of her staff and used both of her hands to swing each half. Twirling to avoid several blows, her staff pounded against their chests and helmets. Firestorm dropped to his feet beside her, and the three forms fought in harmony, disarming soldier after soldier.

In the distance, Mick and Ray could be seen descending from the Waverider.

Snart called over his shoulder to Sara and Firestorm, “Looks like the cavalry’s coming after all.”

Sara glanced back at Leonard to see three troopers charging. Their blasters were trained on him as the leader commanded him to drop his weapon. His cold gun frantically switched aim between the three, but he was outnumbered.

 

She approached them quickly but carefully, as another trooper snuck up behind Captain Cold. Once several yards away, he raised his blaster at Snart’s back.

“Len! Watch out!” She yelled as she flung the pieces of her staff at the three guards in front of her teammate. She then threw her body forward, colliding with the sneaky assailant. The rods struck two of the soldiers and Sara could see Leonard fire his cold gun at the third while she and her foe toppled over. As they hit the floor his blaster discharged and the beam struck Leonard’s thigh. He crumpled to the ground as his leg gave out beneath him.

Sara rolled on top of the guard and forcefully removed his helmet, throwing punch after punch. Heat boiled in her chest as her fists rained down on him, blood coating her knuckles. Beneath her, the body was unresponsive but she could not stop. Vision blurring in absolute rage, she smashed his head against the stone floor.

Suddenly, giant hands grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. She squirmed against their grasp until she recognized the voice of the man that lifted her.

“Come on, blondie, we gotta go,” Mick said. “Grab his arm.”

She struggled to regain her balance, then followed Mick. They each pulled an arm around their shoulders and carried Leonard toward the Waverider. Sara checked her watch.

“Thirty seconds till this thing blows!” She warned.

Firestorm and the Atom circled the air above them, firing at the soldiers in their way to clear a path to the timeship. They stumbled aboard and Rip closed the hatch.

“We have to get him to the medbay,” Ray said.

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,” Sara bit back.

Gideon’s voice came over the comms as the timeship grumbled to life. “Mr Snart’s condition is unstable and must be repaired before the time jump.”

Sara grunted as they continued to carry him forward. “Then just fly away for now, Gideon we don’t have time!”

The Waverider jolted forward in compliance. Hopefully, Rip could pilot the ship far and fast enough that the blast wouldn’t reach them. The ship jerked sideways this time, sending the team hurling into the side of the corridor. Ray and Sara collided with each other and were tossed to the ground, heads banging together.

“Son of a bitch,” she groaned.

Once the Waverider stabilized, half of the crew made their way to the control room, while the others stumbled toward the medbay. Sara and Mick navigated the corridors, Snart’s toes dragging on the floor grates beneath him. His head rolled side to side as they stepped and his eyes slowly opened.

“What happened?” he slurred, clearly in immense pain.

“You got yourself shot,” Mick responded.

“I’ve had worse,” he said, before passing out again.

The door to the medbay opened to their approach and Mick and Sara pulled Leonard onto a table. Sara examined his wound as Gideon began to administer painkillers. Mick turned to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“Someone’s gotta help Rip pilot this ship now that the we can’t read the timeline data,” he said, before joining the rest of the team in the control room.

Gideon continued to scan Leonard’s body to begin repairs. The wound was very deep, cracked bone peeking out beneath tattered flesh. Blood had dripped down his leg and crusted over his skin. The vibrant liquid continued to congregate in the gash and Sara panicked.

“Gideon, he’s losing a lot of blood-”

“Mr. Snart does not require your additional medical attention. My services will suffice.”

Sara nodded and stepped back. She should have tied something above his quad when they were still in the field (everyone knew that - it’s the first thing you learn in first aid) but they were out of time and had to run.

“So he’ll be okay?” She sniffled. Sara hadn’t noticed she had been crying. Perhaps that’s the real reason Mick left her alone with Leonard. Mick doesn’t do emotions.

“There is a 69% chance of a full recovery, with a 78% chance of partial recovery.”

Sara exhaled and sat in a chair beside him.  _ So what if he can’t walk the same? He’s alive. _

* * *

Healing was slow, and Sara was an impatient person. When she first sat down in the medbay, she had hoped the medical advancements of the future would accelerate healing enough that she could see it with her own eyes. To her dismay, the process was as slow as she remembered. After staring blankly at the medical charts on the screen beside the table for an hour, she rose to her feet and paced the room.

The medbay was silent, save for the steady beeping, reminding Sara that Leonard was still alive. She glanced down at her hands as she fiddled with his ring. The metal was cold against her fingertips. Turning it over in her hand, she noticed the dry blood flaking over her knuckles. She pocketed the ring and made her way to the sink to wash it off.

The mirror above the sink was large enough for Sara to see the reflection of her face and shoulders. Purple and blue and yellow bruises stretched from her chest up to her neck, spreading out across her collarbones unevenly. Her lip was cracked and several scrapes covered her cheeks and forehead. She splashed cold water on her face and patted it dry with a towel before returning to her seat beside the table.

“I know you can’t hear me, but we’re glad you’re back.” she said to the unconscious man in front of her. “You died. The first time. Rip didn’t think we could pull it off. He didn’t think that we could save you. It just…” she sighed. “It wasn’t fair. You died for us and that’s great and all, but you didn’t deserve to… I guess what I’m saying is... thank you.”

She pulled the ring from her pocket and slipped it onto his pinky, holding his hand in hers for a moment, before placing it back on the table. “Mick said you planted this on him before we left. I guess you lied about not being sentimental, huh?” She chuckled to herself. “Gideon?”

“Yes, Miss Lance?” the AI responded.

“How long until he wakes up?”

“In approximately two to seven hours, Miss Lance.”

She groaned. “Great. That’s specific.”

* * *

Sara remained seated as over the span of several hours the rest of the crew filtered in and out of the medbay. Her eyes were locked onto Leonard as Ray and Martin asked about his condition. She remained silent, so Gideon responded. Ray had asked if she would like a pillow and blanket, or something to eat, perhaps, but she just shook her head.

When they were gone she spoke again.

“Gideon, what are the odds of recovery now?”

“There is a 74% chance of a full recovery, with a 91% chance of partial recovery.”

She exhaled in relief.

Another silence filled the room for an hour or so, before Sara broke it again.

“Don’t get any wrong ideas about me waiting here. It’s just because I know you’d do the same for me.” She smiled. “I was right, you know. About you. You’re not cold-hearted and you’re not a murderer. You’re a hero. So don’t cringe at the word next time we say it, okay? Cause you  _ are _ a hero.” She leaned over him and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.

From the charts on the monitor, Sara could tell his condition was improving. The wound in his leg was healing quickly enough, so it was just a matter of time before he woke up. She hoped it was soon, and figured most of the reason he was knocked out was due to the medication.

Like clockwork, his shoulders twitched and his eyes cracked open, adjusting to the harsh white shine of the room. He groaned and brought his hand to his head, shielding his eyes from the light. His head rolled to the side and Sara could read his face as he registered her presence.

“Hey,” she said, smiling one of her signature half smiles.

“Hey,” he croaked out. His hand stretched off the edge of the table towards hers. Sara complied and pulled his hand into hers.

“Did it work?”

She nodded, fighting back tears. “Yes, the whole station was destroyed.”

He closed his eyes and smiled, relishing in their victory. When he opened them again, his gaze was on her, unwavering and resolute. She knew he was thinking about their kiss, and they should talk about it, but there was plenty of time for that.

  
“So,” he said, “are we legends yet?”


End file.
